Cracking of surfaces can produce similar patterns to lichtenbergs, but it occurs in the opposite direction. You get the big crack (like the valley) first, followed by ever-smaller tributaries. This is in contrast to the conventional argument for rain erosion of mountains, where the tributaries are created locally on the high ground and flowing downwards and joining to form increasingly large streams and rivers. In addition, when the surface is raised by the cracking then the valley appears to be upside down and flowing uphill, with the estuary like a crater at the very top.

I haven't yet seen any compelling evidence that natural rain and water erosion can create similar patterns on ground that was not already approaching a lichtenberg form, whether it be formed electrically or by surface cracking. Has anybody ever demonstrated erosion as being capable of creating fractals like these?

Seb, for the answer to your erosion question, check out the Mississippi basin and Mississippi delta.

Truth extends beyond the border of self-limiting science. Free discourse among opposing viewpoints draws the open-minded away from the darkness of inevitable bias and nearer to the light of universal reality.

Some interesting volcanic mountains in Chad, the Tibesti mountains, look to me to have some traits that look "electrical," and yet they are known to be volcanic in origin. I'm just wondering how how certain we can be of at least some electrical characteristics. I am no expert.

What bdw000 said.
These are recent volcanic, and recently eroded features.
Both charge dispersion [a la lictenberg patterns] and erosion follow the physical principle of the path of least resistance, therefore display similar superficial designs. This does not allow one to conclude with any certainty that all, or even most lichtenberg-like patterns are of electrical origin.

Truth extends beyond the border of self-limiting science. Free discourse among opposing viewpoints draws the open-minded away from the darkness of inevitable bias and nearer to the light of universal reality.

Rivers seem to present quite the challenge when it comes to explaining their origins and progressions. In this article, the main image just smacks of electrical phenomena having created the original landform. Maybe they do progress through erosion, but I think they may well have gained most of their shape almost instantly.
River Formation:
Solving the Mystery of River Formationhttp://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2 ... r-for.html

How to make lichtenberg figures in plywood with a mere 15,000 volts. Some here may find this interesting. Being the non-expert that I am, I always assumed that lichtenberg figures were always formed quickly, such as by lightning.

Looks promising to me, especially when you consider the similarity of the structures in the wood to those of the grand canyon and our old friend the martian surface. Maybe the process would be faster on a larger, planetary scale. I don't know who these scalar things work so I couldn't say for sure.

One thing that struck me was that the wood only smoldered rather than bursting into flames. Maybe they were blowing any fire out as it sprang up, I don't know, perhaps. Anyway, very impressive.

Great video, this deserves a lot more discussion than it is getting. I was very surprised at how long it took for the etchings to occur. This is a video made with time-laps photography. If you look closely you can see the plasma filaments moving across the surface. Scaling this up to global plasma discharge, it would seem that features on Mars would have taken days, months or even years to happen. I seem to remember Thunderbolts members describe the process taking as little as minutes.